Needless to say, I have painted this image inspired by, and with women - all women past, present and future - in mind. As an artist-in-the-making, I find myself going through an ongoing metamorphosis. It is a never-ending process that allows human beings to experience vital stages and phases as we go through life and during which we seem to gather the necessary “pieces” to better understand our selves and the world around us.

I strongly believe that we, men and women, are the most amazing and awesome creatures to have ever been designed and created, all modesty aside. In this case, the beautiful, organic, graceful lines that a woman’s body exhibits and her sweet and delicate presence have certainly inspired me to render this image. The colors that I have chosen also relate to the natural change of seasons and how Mother Nature reminds us of the magical journey we all make through life. This painting also tells of how we transition from one stage into another, accumulating experiences and vital “pieces” along the way so necessary to put our own “puzzle” together.

"I grew up in Colombia, South America, and in a culture that celebrates and glorifies bullfighting, among many other things. A violent yet seemingly graceful encounter between two strangers and between two magnificent species who, for a few precious minutes, pretend to casually cross each other’s paths and engage in a dance of life and death. In it, the precise maneuvers and the graceful, daring moves executed by the Matador create a convincing mask of the violent ritual between Torero (bullfighter) and Toro (bull), and where an elegant yet bloody flamencoesque duel of life and death is played out as artful, for-the-sake-of-tradition entertainment.

"Bullfighting is, without a doubt, primitive and brutal. I believe it to be a senseless, inhumane and completely unnecessary tradition to preserve as long as we continue to kill both, the bull and our own belief in possessing a humane regard for animals. This painting, on the contrary, celebrates the colors and the graceful movement displayed by the protagonists of the tragic spectacle. It also celebrates the dynamic interaction between man and beast and the alchemy of courage, instincts, audacity, gracefulness and luck thrown together as a form of entertainment. But this painting is NOT about crowds of people cheering on and applauding to the systematic and gradual torture of a beautiful animal. It is NOT about people who subconsciously choose to freeze-frame daily reality for a few hours, in order to rejoice in the killing of a live animal. The Squareness of Tradition is a pictorial statement against the seemingly blind attitude that our society adopts when it comes to “legalized” violence and graphic brutality of both animals and human beings, during a public spectacle that borders into circus-ring entertainment disguised as “Tradicion Taurina.”

"It is true: LIFE is inherently violent. The birth of a child is both beautiful and simultaneously violent and bloody. Lovemaking, in its purely physical state is, while sensual, wonderful and divine, a violent act. And although I find many aspects of bullfighting fascinating, the Squareness of Tradition relates to the pre-imposed notions, not just in bullfighting but in many more rituals and practices set by societies around the world that condone violence in the name of tradition. So much information and age-old customs have been carefully “packaged” and meticulously sub-planted in the human psyche and into our lifestyles that we rarely stop to think and to react beyond what’s expected of us.

"In bullfighting, the animal is nothing but a completely innocent creature whose role is merely to provide entertainment while being provoked, butchered and tortured to death. In life, we are born innocent creatures into a world with pre-set notions, concepts and traditions that we are expected to learn and follow while becoming automatons that simply must accept “reality” as we are taught to know it.

"What I have painted here, then, becomes an open invitation addressed to all aficionados of bullfighting around the world: become aware and be proactive; question everything; agitate the foundation of social traditions; challenge the system and the status quo in the hope that we all can one day break through the limits and the pre-imposed norms that are masked and established as so called “traditions.”"

It always amazes me how aromas and scents, flavors and textures found in the food and drinks that we consume can evoke moods, a certain attitude, a timeless memory and all those delicious pleasures that human nature always surrenders to. I was born in Colombia, a beautiful country where some of the finest coffee beans in the world are grown and harvested. This painting is the first of a series of images inspired by coffee and its effect, literally and culturally, on our lifestyles.

Based on memories from my childhood, life-long observations and on growing up in a land where drinking coffee has been a daily ritual and a national past time for so many generations, my intention is to create images that celebrate every aspect of coffee growing, harvesting roasting and drinking. And about age-old socio-cultural rituals.

I am also interested in all the different and multiple ways in which human beings connect and communicate with each other, consciously or not. The coffee bean then becomes a means and one of nature’s multiple gifts, by which so many of us ultimately end up, consciously or not, communicating with each other. People from all walks of life participate, again consciously or not, in an amazing cycle that links many aspects of human inter action and connectedness. From the time that the coffee bean seed is planted, carefully nurtured and grown, to the moment when it’s picked, then shipped, roasted, sold and eventually consumed by us, we all become the fabric with which a bio-socio-cultural quilt is created.

This painting was inspired by my unconditional respect and admiration of the people of Colombia in South America, and their unfortunate plight. Therefore, it is dedicated to Colombia, the Colombian people, their infinite potential and their life-long dream for peace and normalcy in their lives.

The composition here is one of hope, encouragement and an open invitation to Colombian people living inside and outside Colombia to shake and destroy the foundation of a terrible system - or way of life - that are in complete chaos and which have corrupted, intimidated and drastically changed every aspect of life in one of the most beautiful and naturally-abundant (nature-rich) countries in the world. A 38-year-old civil war and senseless internal conflicts that generate violence, lawlessness, disregard for human life - especially innocent children and hard-working civilians - have infected and spread like a disease throughout Colombian society, becoming a runaway train that seemingly has no destination and that has brought a nation to its knees pleading for mercy and begging for something, anything to stop a vicious, illogical and very unnecessary cycle of self-destruction.

You may notice that there are dozens of birds or bird-like figures throughout the painting. Each bird symbolizes a human being whose birth-right is to be free, to never be oppressed and to always have the freedom to live peacefully and in harmony (unison) with its fellow human beings and in reverence of its environment. The light source and its majestic beam in this painting represent hope, good will, vision and faith in the inherent capacity that all human beings have - regardless of political inclinations, economical conditions, race, religion or philosophical beliefs - to reason, to work out their differences and points of view and their ability to reach a mutually productive, beneficial and peaceful understanding of our place and purpose in this fragile and beautiful universe that we call home.

A few years ago I got a phone call from a good friend of mine whom I had not heard from in a long time. I had just returned home from a long journey overseas, so it was good to talk to her again. After catching up with each other’s doings and life’s happenings, she then went on to tell me that she had recently found out that she was pregnant and was then expecting her third child.

At that time, she was already divorced and had been dating someone mainly to hang out with and not feel so lonely. With two kids at home and the prospect of living as a single parent, she had not had time to see or meet new people, go out, etc. I asked who the would-be father was and whether this had been planned or just an "accident." She told me that she didn’t feel anything special for him nor did she have a meaningful relationship with this man and that she didn’t want, at any cost, to have the baby. I simply told her that whatever decision she made - whether to keep the child and bring a new life into the world or to have an abortion - I would support her 100%, and that she would still be the same, good old friend to me regardless of the outcome and her decision.

Two weeks went by and I got another phone call. She had thought about it, had spoken with two girlfriends close to her and also with her mother. Her decision was final and she would have an abortion. She gave me a date and the clinic where the outpatient procedure would take place. The would-be father was committed to accompanying her and would also pay for all the costs. I wished her well and we both promised each other to keep in touch more often.

It just so happened that on the day she was to have the abortion, I was in my studio ready to start work on a new painting. For some reason, I then remembered that, at that precise time, my girlfriend would be admitted to a clinic. I knew that she would be ok and would deal with the aftermath in the best of terms. My thoughts went to the unborn baby and its helpless fate. I started to think about its reason or purpose for having been conceived. My mind would go from one extreme - abortion and a convenient way human lives are destroyed - to the other end of the spectrum - a new life into this world with the potential to blossom and become a wonderful and creative human being.

This painting tells of how every single human life does have and always will have a purpose and a reason to come into this world. Whether we choose to accept it or not, to believe it or not, the life force (spirit, essence, soul, creative intelligence, mana, etc.) that always inhabits a human embryo - from before its conception to either its brief and fleeting existence or throughout an entire lifetime span - has expressly manifested and "crossed-over" into the physical world to fulfill its own design and cosmic journey, regardless of what we do or don’t do with a human life or why we choose to do it.

A sunflower is truly a colorful mirror that reflects and reminds us of how relative everything is in this universe that we call home. It is said that we “find God in the details.” This flower is precisely that; a beautiful Microcosm within a magnificent Macrocosm. The painting then becomes a combined tribute to both the radiant, nurturing sun that we so often take for granted, and to our beautiful planet. My intention is to show the close interaction and interdependence of one with the other; much the same way that the blooming and growth of a flower depend on the sun’s light so does our planet and its “spinning dance-path” around the sun in order to ensure its continued existence.

I have painted these two heavenly bodies in a simple image that celebrates aliveness, vitality, nourishment, colorfulness and the magical connectedness that we are privileged to witness and experience, day in and day out, when we either stop “spinning” to look at a flower or to simply look up at the sky.

How lucky we are to be loved by other human beings. And equally so are we to have the capacity to love them. Very few things in life compare to the overwhelming energy, presence and emotional power experienced by two people immersed in mutual affection, acceptance, togetherness, discovery and admiration of each other’s basic need to love.

This painting is an abstract representation of manifested, tangible desire to be in the company, both physical and spiritual, of another. I’d like to think that I have captured or frozen a moment when two people are, have been, and will continue to be engaged in a celebration of mutual Love. The colors merge seamlessly, one into the other, as a symbolic expression of unity and togetherness. I created the texture by carving on the surface, 2-way connecting lines that converge, manifest and disperse again to and from infinity, of which we all are part. I am also interested here in exploring, through visual inquiry, the multiple ways in which energy, spiritual, emotional and/or physical, is constantly in motion and how it manifests through the power of Love.

Most of us have been programmed to act and respond to certain beliefs, values and ideals. We were born into a world wherein concepts, rules, guidelines, terms and conditions and many so-called goals, but not dreams, have already been pre-established for us to choose from and abide by. These notions have been ingrained into our collective psyche to such degree that we have resigned ourselves to a habitual form of thinking and to very limited possibilities. In so doing, we have become content and very numb to all the infinite options and choices available and to all the yet-to-be imagined potential which truly exists in the realm located “just outside” and beyond our “conditioned consciousness.”

Organized religion is just one of those amazing software programs that have been carefully, strategically and meticulously designed and fed, gigabyte by gigabyte, into our consciousness and lifestyles. Century after century, one generation after the other, organized religion has instructed worshippers around the globe, through forced repetition, systematic indoctrination and well-planted fear, to believe in and react accordingly to external phenomena (as opposed to the inner God within us all) and to incomprehensible circumstances of biblical proportions that have nothing to do with people’s daily lives, their sense of self-worth or earthly core ideals.

In other words, organized religion has succeeded in taking away our own sense of self-empowerment. Not anymore. Not for much longer...

HOPE is a seed that when nurtured and watered, grows into a beautiful inner child that we are privileged to incubate and befriend throughout our entire lives. This painting pays tribute to the Christ-essence from all religions known to mankind that resides deep within our hearts. Regardless of what or whom we choose to believe in or to worship throughout our lifetime, HOPE and its amazing gift is time-less, without regard to origin or nationality, nor to cultural or ethnic background, creed or religious belief.

Even before we were conceived and planted in our mother’s womb with the grace and the virtues of DNA, the creative Spirit that flows in and out of the cosmos lit the flame of hope and placed it gently within our being to be nurtured and built into an infinite source of inspiration. That flame can only be extinguished if we choose to do so.

This image encompasses the tree of life – as symbolized by a cross – and the human figure and presence who is the only being that has the ability to embody and manifest truly amazing and spectacular deeds in the face of adversity, hardship, oppression and self-destructiveness.

It goes like this: I believe that Love is the most powerful force to have ever been felt and experienced. Without a doubt, the enveloping, warming experience and glorious manifestation of Love are the most valuable gifts that we have ever bestowed upon one another.

In my opinion, human kind is so very eager and, to some extent, so very desperate to “find” and to “feel” Love. The human race is a very lonely species. But loneliness is such a state that runs completely contrary to our nature, and it absolutely contradicts our purpose as a society ,as well as our innate desire to be with one another, as individuals.

Perhaps the very notion of what “Love” is has been altered and truly misunderstood throughout history. Many centuries ago, somewhere, somehow and in some mysterious fashion, we were conditioned to believe that Love is something to be ”found”, to “fall into” or to be discovered and experienced under “certain conditions and circumstances.” Perhaps we have, generation after generation, resigned ourselves to believe that Love is a state of being which distinctively triggers, promotes and nurtures emotions, feelings and episodes filled with hues of romance, melancholy, sentimental urges and dramatic nostalgia.

This painting tells of the innate human need to experience Love. The dove is representative of both the animal kingdom and of a state of purity. Of unaltered beingness. Instinctively, the dove knows this state and is able to experience Love unconditionally and within a realm where simplicity and openness abound.

Such is our desperation and confusion, that we are willing to become like the bird in order to experience this gift and this extraordinary and divine force called Love. The texture that you see carved and etched into the surface of "Where Love Is" – in all angles and directions - is actually the following statement, LITERALLY CARVED OUT:

“Only Love is real, the rest is an illusion.”

I have also incorporated the four letters that make up the word “LOVE” - you can find them in the central section of the painting.

So where then, is Love ?? ……We are all Love manifested. Right here, right now. We are a mother’s womb in which the seed and the immense potential of Love have been planted to be nurtured, experienced and shared with one another. Love is a synonym for compassion, hope, togetherness, acceptance, awareness, surrender and inspiration. And, while we move and pass briefly through our world and embark upon this wonder-filled journey of discovery called LIFE, it is necessary to always remember that, deep within ourselves, the place that we have come to know as our home is where LOVE resides. It’s Where LOVE Is.

THE Vortex

​"The Vortex is a realm deep within ourselves from which creativity and endless possibilities emere. It symbolizes a space-time event that I call 'nothingness' -- the empty canvas on which creation manifests..."

-- Mauricio Arcesio

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